Synthesizing virtual machine disk backups

ABSTRACT

The system, process, and methods herein describe a mechanism for extracting virtual machine disk backups from LUN backups. The virtual machine disk backups may be stored in a deduplicated storage system. Thick virtual machine disks may be converted to thin virtual machine disks.

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document may contain command formats and other computer language listings, all of which are subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates generally to data backups, and more particularly to continuous data replication on deduplicated storage.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED FILINGS

This application is related to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/225,104 for ALIGNMENT FIXING ON A DATA PROTECTION SYSTEM DURING CONTINUOUS DATA REPLICATION TO DEDUPLICATED STORAGE, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/225,089 for RECOVERING CORRUPT VIRTUAL MACHINE DISKS, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/225,069 for ALIGNMENT FIXING ON A STORAGE SYSTEM DURING CONTINUOUS DATA REPLICATION TO DEDUPLICATED STORAGE, all filed concurrently herewith and incorporated by reference for all purposes.

This application is related to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/108,002 for INITIALIZING BACKUP SNAPSHOTS ON DEDUPLICATED STORAGE, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/108,021 for MAINTAINING BACKUP SNAPSHOT ON DEDUPLICATED STORAGE USING CONTINUOUS REPLICATION, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/108,032 for POINT-IN-TIME RECOVERY ON DEDUPLICATED STORAGE, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/108,053 for MAINTAINING POINT-IN-TIME GRANULARITY FOR BACKUP SNAPSHOTS, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/108,060 for MAINTAINING BACKUP SNAPSHOTS USING CONTINUOUS REPLICATION FOR MULTIPLE SOURCES, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/108,072 for RECOVERING CORRUPT STORAGE SYSTEMS, all hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes.

A description of journaling and some techniques associated with journaling may be described in the patent titled METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR OPTIMAL JOURNALING FOR CONTINUOUS DATA REPLICATION and with U.S. Pat. No. 7,516,287, and METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR OPTIMAL JOURNALING FOR CONTINUOUS DATA REPLICATION and with U.S. Pat. No. 8,332,687, which are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

Computer data is vital to today's organizations, and a significant part of protection against disasters is focused on data protection. As solid-state memory has advanced to the point where cost of memory has become a relatively insignificant factor, organizations can afford to operate with systems that store and process terabytes of data.

Conventional data protection systems include backup drives for storing organizational production site data on a periodic basis. Such systems suffer from several drawbacks. First, they may require a system shutdown during backup since the data being backed up cannot be used during the backup operation. Second, they limit the points in time to which the production site can recover. For example, if data is backed up on a daily basis, there may be several hours of lost data in the event of a disaster. Third, the data recovery process itself may take a long time.

Another conventional data protection system uses data replication, by creating a copy of the organization's production site data on a secondary backup storage system, and updating the backup with changes. The backup storage system may be situated in the same physical location as the production storage system, or in a physically remote location.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Objects, features, and advantages of embodiments disclosed herein may be better understood by referring to the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The drawings are not meant to limit the scope of the claims included herewith. For clarity, not every element may be labeled in every figure. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating embodiments, principles, and concepts. Thus, features and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent from the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a simplified illustration of a data protection system, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a simplified illustration of a write transaction for a journal, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a system for initializing a backup snapshot, consistent with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart for initializing a backup snapshot consistent with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a system for initializing a backup snapshot, consistent with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a system for synthesizing new backup snapshots, consistent with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart for synthesizing new backup snapshots, consistent with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7A is a flowchart for creating a synthesis plan consistent with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for extracting a virtual machine disk backup from a LUN backup consistent with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart for converting a thick virtual machine disk to a thin virtual machine disk consistent with an embodiment of the present disclosure

FIG. 10 is a general purpose computer system consistent with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A detailed description of one or more embodiments of the invention is provided below along with accompanying figures that illustrate the principles of the invention. While the invention is described in conjunction with such embodiment(s), it should be understood that the invention is not limited to any one embodiment. On the contrary, the scope of the invention is limited only by the claims and the invention encompasses numerous alternatives, modifications, and equivalents. For the purpose of example, numerous specific details are set forth in the following description in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. These details are provided for the purpose of example, and the present invention may be practiced according to the claims without some or all of these specific details. For the purpose of clarity, technical material that is known in the technical fields related to the invention has not been described in detail so that the present invention is not unnecessarily obscured.

It should be appreciated that the present invention can be implemented in numerous ways, including as a process, an apparatus, a system, a device, a method, or a computer readable medium such as a computer readable storage medium or a computer network wherein computer program instructions are sent over optical or electronic communication links. Applications may take the form of software executing on a general purpose computer or be hardwired or hard coded in hardware. In this specification, these implementations, or any other form that the invention may take, may be referred to as techniques. In general, the order of the steps of disclosed processes may be altered within the scope of the invention.

An embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to a data storage system in the form of a storage system configured to store files, but it should be understood that the principles of the invention are not limited to this configuration. Rather, they are applicable to any system capable of storing and handling various types of objects, in analog, digital, or other form. Although terms such as document, file, object, etc. may be used by way of example, the principles of the invention are not limited to any particular form of representing and storing data or other information; rather, they are equally applicable to any object capable of representing information.

Systems, processes, and methods are discussed herein for enabling continuous data backups to deduplicated storage. In some embodiments, an initial backup snapshot of a source storage system may be created on the deduplicated storage using a data protection appliance. As changes are made to the source storage system, the IO's may be continuously communicated to the deduplicated storage for backup and protection.

In some embodiments, the deduplicated storage and/or data protection appliance may maintain journals, including data journals and metadata journals, for synthesizing new backup snapshots and/or recovering files. The journals may include DO and UNDO information compiled from IO's communicated from the data protection appliance to the deduplicated storage. These IO's may be applied to a backup snapshot to restore the snapshot to a previous point-in-time, or may be used to synthesize a new snapshot.

In an embodiment, data protection windows may be defined based on policy or user preference. The data protection windows may be used to maintain snapshots and/or journals for designated periods of time. For example, short-term windows may maintain both snapshots and journals for any point-in-time recovery (assuming the point-in-time falls within the short-term window). Mid-term windows, in contrast, may delete journals but maintain all the snapshots created during a period, and long-term windows may delete all the journals and select snapshots. Defining different protection windows may allow point-in-time recovery for files accessed recently, while also providing reduced storage consumption for long-term backups.

The systems discussed herein may additionally allow backup snapshots to be synthesized on deduplicated storage from IO's provided from multiple data protection appliance. For example, two data protection appliances may protect a single SAN. Each of those data protection agents may report IO's to the deduplicated storage, and a single backup snapshot may be synthesized from the journals maintaining those IO's

The following non-limiting definitions supplement, but do not replace, the description below and may be helpful in understanding the specification and claims:

BACKUP SITE—may be a facility where replicated production site data is stored; the backup site may be located in a remote site or at the same location as the production site; a backup site may be a virtual or physical site.

CDP—Continuous Data Protection, may refer to a full replica of a volume or a set of volumes along with a journal which allows any point in time access, the CDP copy is at the same site, and maybe the same storage array of the production site.

DATA PROTECTION APPLIANCE (“DPA”)—may be a computer or a cluster of computers, or a set of processes that serve as a data protection appliance, responsible for data protection services including inter alia data replication of a storage system, and journaling of I/O requests issued by a host computer to the storage system. The DPA may be a physical device, a virtual device running, or may be a combination of a virtual and physical device.

DEDUPLICATED STORAGE SYSTEM—may mean any storage system capable of storing deduplicated or space reduced data, and in an embodiment is an EMC® DataDomain® system. Deduplicated data may be any data that is processed to remove redundant data.

HOST—may be at least one computer or networks of computers that runs at least one data processing application that issues I/O requests to one or more storage systems; a host is an initiator with a SAN; a host may be a virtual machine.

HOST DEVICE—may be an internal interface in a host to a logical storage unit.

IMAGE—may be a copy of a logical storage unit at a specific point-in-time.

INITIATOR—may be a node in a SAN that issues I/O requests.

I/O—may mean a input, output, read, read request, write, write request, or any combination thereof.

JOURNAL—may be a record of write transactions issued to a storage system. A journal may be used to maintain a duplicate storage system, and to rollback the duplicate storage system to a previous point-in-time.

LOGICAL UNIT—may be a logical entity provided by a storage system for accessing data from the storage system.

LUN—may be a logical unit number for identifying a logical unit. May also refer to one or more virtual disks or virtual LUNs, which may correspond to one or more Virtual Machines. As used herein, LUN and LU may be used interchangeably to refer to a LU.

PHYSICAL STORAGE UNIT—may be a physical entity, such as a disk or an array of disks, for storing data in storage locations that can be accessed by address.

PRODUCTION SITE—may be a facility where one or more host computers run data processing applications that write data to a storage system and read data from the storage system; may be a virtual or physical site.

RPA—may be replication protection appliance, and is another name for DPA. An RPA may be a virtual DPA or a physical DPA.

SAN—may be a storage area network of nodes that send and receive I/O and other requests, each node in the network being an initiator or a target, or both an initiator and a target.

SOURCE SIDE—may be a transmitter of data within a data replication workflow. During normal operation a production site is the source side, and during data recovery a backup site is the source side. Source side may be a virtual or physical site.

SNAPSHOT—a snapshot may refer to an image or differential representations of an image, i.e. the snapshot may have pointers to the original volume, and may point to log volumes for changed locations. Snapshots may be combined into a snapshot array, which may represent different images over a time period.

SPLITTER/PROTECTION AGENT—may be an agent running either on a production host a switch or a storage array which can intercept IO and split them to a DPA and to the storage array, fail IO redirect IO or do any other manipulation to the IO; the splitter or protection agent may be used in both physical and virtual systems. The splitter may be in the IO stack of a system and may be located in the hypervisor for virtual machines. May be referred to herein as an Open Replicator Splitter (ORS).

STORAGE SYSTEM—may be a SAN entity that provides multiple logical units for access by multiple SAN initiators.

STREAMING—may mean transmitting data in real time, from a source to a destination, as the data is read or created.

SYNTHESIZE—may mean creating a new file using pointers from existing files, without actually copying the referenced data. For example, a new file representing a volume at a points-in-time may be created using pointers to a file representing a previous point-in-time, as well pointers to journal representing changes to the volume

TARGET—may be a node in a SAN that replies to I/O requests.

TARGET SIDE—may be a receiver of data within a data replication workflow; during normal operation a back site is the target side, and during data recovery a production site is the target side; may be a virtual or physical site.

VMDK—may be a virtual machine disk. The virtual machine disk may be any logical unit capable of storing data for a virtual machine. In an embodiment, the virtual machine disk file may be a VMware VMDK file, but any other virtual machine disk file, such as VHD, from any vendor is consistent with the present disclosure.

VIRTUAL VOLUME—may be a volume which is exposed to host by a virtualization layer, the virtual volume may be spanned across more than one site and or volumes.

VIRTUAL RPA (vRPA)/VIRTUAL DPA (vDPA)—may be an DPA running in a VM.

WAN—may be a wide area network that connects local networks and enables them to communicate with one another, such as the Internet.

Overview of a Backup System Using a Journaling Process

Reference is now made to FIG. 1, which is a simplified illustration of a data protection system 100, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Shown in FIG. 1 are two sites; Site I, which is a production site, on the right, and Site II, which is a backup site, on the left. Under normal operation the production site is the source side of system 100, and the backup site is the target side of the system. The backup site is responsible for replicating production site data. Additionally, the backup site enables rollback of Site I data to an earlier pointing time, which may be used in the event of data corruption of a disaster, or alternatively in order to view or to access data from an earlier point in time.

During normal operations, the direction of replicate data flow goes from source side to target side. It is possible, however, for a user to reverse the direction of replicate data flow, in which case Site I starts to behave as a target backup site, and Site II starts to behave as a source production site. Such change of replication direction is referred to as a “failover”. A failover may be performed in the event of a disaster at the production site, or for other reasons. In some data architectures, Site I or Site II behaves as a production site for a portion of stored data, and behaves simultaneously as a backup site for another portion of stored data. In some data architectures, a portion of stored data is replicated to a backup site, and another portion is not.

The production site and the backup site may be remote from one another, or they may both be situated at a common site, local to one another. Local data protection has the advantage of minimizing data lag between target and source, and remote data protection has the advantage is being robust in the event that a disaster occurs at the source side.

The source and target sides communicate via a wide area network (WAN) 128, although other types of networks are also adaptable for use with the present invention.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, each side of system 100 includes three major components coupled via a storage area network (SAN); namely, (i) a storage system, (ii) a host computer, and (iii) a data protection appliance (DPA). Specifically with reference to FIG. 1, the source side SAN includes a source host computer 104, a source storage system 108, and a source DPA 112. Similarly, the target side SAN includes a target host computer 116, a target storage system 120, and a target DPA 124.

Generally, a SAN includes one or more devices, referred to as “nodes”. A node in a SAN may be an “initiator” or a “target”, or both. An initiator node is a device that is able to initiate requests to one or more other devices; and a target node is a device that is able to reply to requests, such as SCSI commands, sent by an initiator node. A SAN may also include network switches, such as fiber channel switches. The communication links between each host computer and its corresponding storage system may be any appropriate medium suitable for data transfer, such as fiber communication channel links. In an embodiment of the present invention, the host communicates with its corresponding storage system using small computer system interface (SCSI) commands.

System 100 includes source storage system 108 and target storage system 120. Each storage system includes physical storage units for storing data, such as disks or arrays of disks. Typically, storage systems 108 and 120 are target nodes. In order to enable initiators to send requests to storage system 108, storage system 108 exposes one or more logical units (LU) to which commands are issued. Thus, storage systems 108 and 120 are SAN entities that provide multiple logical units for access by multiple SAN initiators.

Logical units are a logical entity provided by a storage system, for accessing data stored in the storage system. A logical unit is identified by a unique logical unit number (LUN). In an embodiment of the present invention, storage system 108 exposes a logical unit 136, designated as LU A, and storage system 120 exposes a logical unit 156, designated as LU B.

In an embodiment of the present invention, LU B is used for replicating LU A. As such, LU B is generated as a copy of LU A. In one embodiment, LU B is configured so that its size is identical to the size of LU A. Thus for LU A, storage system 120 serves as a backup for source side storage system 108. Alternatively, as mentioned hereinabove, some logical units of storage system 120 may be used to back up logical units of storage system 108, and other logical units of storage system 120 may be used for other purposes. Moreover, in certain embodiments of the present invention, there is symmetric replication whereby some logical units of storage system 108 are used for replicating logical units of storage system 120, and other logical units of storage system 120 are used for replicating other logical units of storage system 108.

System 100 includes a source side host computer 104 and a target side host computer 116. A host computer may be one computer, or a plurality of computers, or a network of distributed computers, each computer may include inter alia a conventional CPU, volatile and non-volatile memory, a data bus, an I/O interface, a display interface and a network interface. Generally a host computer runs at least one data processing application, such as a database application and an e-mail server.

Generally, an operating system of a host computer creates a host device for each logical unit exposed by a storage system in the host computer SAN. A host device is a logical entity in a host computer, through which a host computer may access a logical unit. In an embodiment of the present invention, host device 104 identifies LU A and generates a corresponding host device 140, designated as Device A, through which it can access LU A. Similarly, host computer 116 identifies LU B and generates a corresponding device 160, designated as Device B.

In an embodiment of the present invention, in the course of continuous operation, host computer 104 is a SAN initiator that issues I/O requests (write/read operations) through host device 140 to LU A using, for example, SCSI commands. Such requests are generally transmitted to LU A with an address that includes a specific device identifier, an offset within the device, and a data size. Offsets are generally aligned to 512 byte blocks. The average size of a write operation issued by host computer 104 may be, for example, 10 kilobytes (KB); i.e., 20 blocks. For an I/O rate of 50 megabytes (MB) per second, this corresponds to approximately 5,000 write transactions per second.

System 100 includes two data protection appliances, a source side DPA 112 and a target side DPA 124. A DPA performs various data protection services, such as data replication of a storage system, and journaling of I/O requests issued by a host computer to source side storage system data. As explained in detail hereinbelow, when acting as a target side DPA, a DPA may also enable rollback of data to an earlier point in time, and processing of rolled back data at the target site. Each DPA 112 and 124 is a computer that includes inter alia one or more conventional CPUs and internal memory.

For additional safety precaution, each DPA is a cluster of such computers. Use of a cluster ensures that if a DPA computer is down, then the DPA functionality switches over to another computer. The DPA computers within a DPA cluster communicate with one another using at least one communication link suitable for data transfer via fiber channel or IP based protocols, or such other transfer protocol. One computer from the DPA cluster serves as the DPA leader. The DPA cluster leader coordinates between the computers in the cluster, and may also perform other tasks that require coordination between the computers, such as load balancing.

In the architecture illustrated in FIG. 1, DPA 112 and DPA 124 are standalone devices integrated within a SAN. Alternatively, each of DPA 112 and DPA 124 may be integrated into storage system 108 and storage system 120, respectively, or integrated into host computer 104 and host computer 116, respectively. Both DPAs communicate with their respective host computers through communication lines such as fiber channels using, for example, SCSI commands.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, DPAs 112 and 124 are configured to act as initiators in the SAN; i.e., they can issue I/O requests using, for example, SCSI commands, to access logical units on their respective storage systems. DPA 112 and DPA 124 are also configured with the necessary functionality to act as targets; i.e., to reply to I/O requests, such as SCSI commands, issued by other initiators in the SAN, including inter alia their respective host computers 104 and 116. Being target nodes, DPA 112 and DPA 124 may dynamically expose or remove one or more logical units.

As described hereinabove, Site I and Site II may each behave simultaneously as a production site and a backup site for different logical units. As such, DPA 112 and DPA 124 may each behave as a source DPA for some logical units and as a target DPA for other logical units, at the same time.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, host computer 104 and host computer 116 include protection agents 144 and 164, respectively. Protection agents 144 and 164 intercept SCSI commands issued by their respective host computers, via host devices to logical units that are accessible to the host computers. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a data protection agent may act on an intercepted SCSI commands issued to a logical unit, in one of the following ways:

-   -   Send the SCSI commands to its intended logical unit.     -   Redirect the SCSI command to another logical unit.     -   Split the SCSI command by sending it first to the respective         DPA. After the DPA returns an acknowledgement, send the SCSI         command to its intended logical unit.     -   Fail a SCSI command by returning an error return code.     -   Delay a SCSI command by not returning an acknowledgement to the         respective host computer.

A protection agent may handle different SCSI commands, differently, according to the type of the command. For example, a SCSI command inquiring about the size of a certain logical unit may be sent directly to that logical unit, while a SCSI write command may be split and sent first to a DPA associated with the agent. A protection agent may also change its behavior for handling SCSI commands, for example as a result of an instruction received from the DPA.

Specifically, the behavior of a protection agent for a certain host device generally corresponds to the behavior of its associated DPA with respect to the logical unit of the host device. When a DPA behaves as a source site DPA for a certain logical unit, then during normal course of operation, the associated protection agent splits I/O requests issued by a host computer to the host device corresponding to that logical unit. Similarly, when a DPA behaves as a target device for a certain logical unit, then during normal course of operation, the associated protection agent fails I/O requests issued by host computer to the host device corresponding to that logical unit.

Communication between protection agents and their respective DPAs may use any protocol suitable for data transfer within a SAN, such as fiber channel, or SCSI over fiber channel. The communication may be direct, or via a logical unit exposed by the DPA. In an embodiment of the present invention, protection agents communicate with their respective DPAs by sending SCSI commands over fiber channel.

In an embodiment of the present invention, protection agents 144 and 164 are drivers located in their respective host computers 104 and 116. Alternatively, a protection agent may also be located in a fiber channel switch, or in any other device situated in a data path between a host computer and a storage system. Additionally or alternatively, the protection agent may be installed as part of the storage array IO stack. In some embodiments the DPA may be installed as a virtual appliance or as a set of processes inside the storage array.

What follows is a detailed description of system behavior under normal production mode, and under recovery mode.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, in production mode DPA 112 acts as a source site DPA for LU A. Thus, protection agent 144 is configured to act as a source side protection agent; i.e., as a splitter for host device A. Specifically, protection agent 144 replicates SCSI I/O requests. A replicated SCSI I/O request is sent to DPA 112. After receiving an acknowledgement from DPA 124, protection agent 144 then sends the SCSI I/O request to LU A. Only after receiving a second acknowledgement from storage system 108 may host computer 104 initiate another I/O request.

When DPA 112 receives a replicated SCSI write request from data protection agent 144, DPA 112 transmits certain I/O information characterizing the write request, packaged as a “write transaction”, over WAN 128 to DPA 124 on the target side, for journaling and for incorporation within target storage system 120.

DPA 112 may send its write transactions to DPA 124 using a variety of modes of transmission, including inter alia (i) a synchronous mode, (ii) an asynchronous mode, and (iii) a snapshot mode. In synchronous mode, DPA 112 sends each write transaction to DPA 124, receives back an acknowledgement from DPA 124, and in turns sends an acknowledgement back to protection agent 144. Protection agent 144 waits until receipt of such acknowledgement before sending the SCSI write request to LU A.

In asynchronous mode, DPA 112 sends an acknowledgement to protection agent 144 upon receipt of each I/O request, before receiving an acknowledgement back from DPA 124.

In snapshot mode, DPA 112 receives several I/O requests and combines them into an aggregate “snapshot” of all write activity performed in the multiple I/O requests, and sends the snapshot to DPA 124, for journaling and for incorporation in target storage system 120. In snapshot mode DPA 112 also sends an acknowledgement to protection agent 144 upon receipt of each I/O request, before receiving an acknowledgement back from DPA 124.

For the sake of clarity, the ensuing discussion assumes that information is transmitted at write-by-write granularity.

While in production mode, DPA 124 receives replicated data of LU A from DPA 112, and performs journaling and writing to storage system 120. When applying write operations to storage system 120, DPA 124 acts as an initiator, and sends SCSI commands to LU B.

During a recovery mode, DPA 124 undoes the write transactions in the journal, so as to restore storage system 120 to the state it was at, at an earlier time.

As described hereinabove, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, LU B is used as a backup of LU A. As such, during normal production mode, while data written to LU A by host computer 104 is replicated from LU A to LU B, host computer 116 should not be sending I/O requests to LU B. To prevent such I/O requests from being sent, protection agent 164 acts as a target site protection agent for host Device B and fails I/O requests sent from host computer 116 to LU B through host Device B.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, target storage system 120 exposes a logical unit 176, referred to as a “journal LU”, for maintaining a history of write transactions made to LU B, referred to as a “journal”. Alternatively, journal LU 176 may be striped over several logical units, or may reside within all of or a portion of another logical unit. DPA 124 includes a journal processor 180 for managing the journal. Journal processor 180 functions generally to manage the journal entries of LU B. Specifically, journal processor 180 (i) enters write transactions received by DPA 124 from DPA 112 into the journal, by writing them into the journal LU, (ii) applies the journal transactions to LU B, and (iii) updates the journal entries in the journal LU with undo information and removes already-applied transactions from the journal. As described below, with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3A-3D, journal entries include four streams, two of which are written when write transaction are entered into the journal, and two of which are written when write transaction are applied and removed from the journal.

Reference is now made to FIG. 2, which is a simplified illustration of a write transaction 200 for a journal, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The journal may be used to provide an adaptor for access to storage 120 at the state it was in at any specified point in time. Since the journal contains the “undo” information necessary to rollback storage system 120, data that was stored in specific memory locations at the specified point in time may be obtained by undoing write transactions that occurred subsequent to such point in time.

-   -   Write transaction 200 generally includes the following fields:     -   one or more identifiers;     -   a time stamp, which is the date & time at which the transaction         was received by source side DPA 112;     -   a write size, which is the size of the data block;     -   a location in journal LU 176 where the data is entered;     -   a location in LU B where the data is to be written; and     -   the data itself.

Write transaction 200 is transmitted from source side DPA 112 to target side DPA 124. As shown in FIG. 2, DPA 124 records the write transaction 200 in four streams. A first stream, referred to as a DO stream, includes new data for writing in LU B. A second stream, referred to as an DO METADATA stream, includes metadata for the write transaction, such as an identifier, a date & time, a write size, a beginning address in LU B for writing the new data in, and a pointer to the offset in the do stream where the corresponding data is located. Similarly, a third stream, referred to as an UNDO stream, includes old data that was overwritten in LU B; and a fourth stream, referred to as an UNDO METADATA, include an identifier, a date & time, a write size, a beginning address in LU B where data was to be overwritten, and a pointer to the offset in the undo stream where the corresponding old data is located.

In practice each of the four streams holds a plurality of write transaction data. As write transactions are received dynamically by target DPA 124, they are recorded at the end of the DO stream and the end of the DO METADATA stream, prior to committing the transaction. During transaction application, when the various write transactions are applied to LU B, prior to writing the new DO data into addresses within the storage system, the older data currently located in such addresses is recorded into the UNDO stream.

By recording old data, a journal entry can be used to “undo” a write transaction. To undo a transaction, old data is read from the UNDO stream in a reverse order, from the most recent data to the oldest data, for writing into addresses within LU B. Prior to writing the UNDO data into these addresses, the newer data residing in such addresses is recorded in the DO stream.

The journal LU is partitioned into segments with a pre-defined size, such as 1 MB segments, with each segment identified by a counter. The collection of such segments forms a segment pool for the four journaling streams described hereinabove. Each such stream is structured as an ordered list of segments, into which the stream data is written, and includes two pointers—a beginning pointer that points to the first segment in the list and an end pointer that points to the last segment in the list.

According to a write direction for each stream, write transaction data is appended to the stream either at the end, for a forward direction, or at the beginning, for a backward direction. As each write transaction is received by DPA 124, its size is checked to determine if it can fit within available segments. If not, then one or more segments are chosen from the segment pool and appended to the stream's ordered list of segments. Thereafter the DO data is written into the DO stream, and the pointer to the appropriate first or last segment is updated. Freeing of segments in the ordered list is performed by simply changing the beginning or the end pointer. Freed segments are returned to the segment pool for re-use.

A journal may be made of any number of streams including less than or more than 5 streams. Often, based on the speed of the journaling and whether the back-up is synchronous or a synchronous a fewer or greater number of streams may be used.

Initializing a Backup Snapshot on Deduplicated Storage

FIG. 3, FIG. 4, and FIG. 5 depict systems and processes for initializing a backup snapshot on deduplicated storage consistent with an embodiment of the present disclosure. Before deduplicated storage can provide continuous backup protection, it may be necessary to create an initial backup snapshot of the source storage system. This initial backup snapshot may represent the earliest point-in-time backup that may be restored. As changes are made to the source storage system, journal files and/or new backups may be updated and/or synthesized to provide continuous protection. In some embodiments, the initial backup snapshot may be created by streaming IO's from a storage system scan to a data protection appliance, or by taking an initial snapshot of the storage system and transmitting the entire snapshot to deduplicated storage.

FIG. 3 depicts a system for creating an initial backup snapshot by scanning a source storage system and streaming IO's to the deduplicated storage. Data protection application 300 may comprise journal processor 302, and may be in communication with deduplicated storage 304. In an embodiment, deduplicated storage 304 may be target side storage residing at a backup site. Data protection appliance 300 may be similar to data protection appliance 112 and/or 124, and may be responsible for streaming IO's to deduplicated storage 304.

In an embodiment, a source storage system may be scanned and individual offsets may be streamed to data protection appliance 300. The offsets streamed from the scanned system may be referred to as initialization IO's, and may be streamed sequentially to data protection appliance 300. For example, the scanned system may comprise offsets 0, 1, 2, and 3, comprising data A, B, C, and D. The initial scan may start at the beginning of the system, and transmit offset 0, followed by offset 1, et seq.

As data protection appliance 300 receives the initialization IO's, journal processor 302 may identify the offset data and metadata, and may stream the IO's to metadata journal 306 and/or data journal 308 residing on deduplicated storage 304. Data journal 308 may comprise data stored within an offset, and metadata 306 may include metadata associated with that offset. Metadata could include, for example, an offset identifier, size, write time, and device ID. These journals may then be used to synthesize a backup snapshot on deduplicated storage 304, as discussed below.

In some embodiments, a scanned storage system may operate in a live environment. As a result, applications may be writing to the storage concurrently with the scan process. If an application writes to a location that has already been streamed, the journal files and ultimately the synthesized snapshot may be out of date. To address this issue, application IO's may be streamed concurrently with the initialization IO's if the application IO's are to an offset that has already been scanned. For example, consider Table 1:

Offset/Time t0 t1 t2 t3 0 A A′ 1 B B′ 2 C 3 D D′

Table 1 depicts four different offsets, denoted as 0, 1, 2, and 3, and four times, t0, t1, t2, and t3. Letters A, B, C, and D may represent the data stored at the offsets. Time t0 may represent the offsets as they exist when the scan begins. These offsets may be streamed to data protection appliance 300 sequentially from 0 to 3. At time t1, however, the data at offset 1 is modified by an application from B to B′. Similarly, at t2 the data at offset 3 changes from D to D′, and at t3 the data at offset 0 changes from A to A′. If the scan transmits the data at offset 1 before t1, B′ may be missed since the change occurred after offset 1 was scanned and B was transmitted. Similarly, if the scan has not reached offset 3 before t2, only D′ will be transmitted since D no longer exists. It may therefore be beneficial to transmit application IO's to data protection appliance 300 if those IO's write to an offset that has already been scanned. If the offset has not been scanned, it may not be necessary to transmit the application IO's because the change will be transmitted when the scan reaches that offset.

Turning back to FIG. 3 and with continued reference to Table 1, offset metadata journal entries 310 and offset data journal entries 312 depict the state of metadata journal 306 and data journal 308 after the initial scan is complete. While there are only four offsets on the scanned storage system, there are six entries in the journal because the data in offset 0 and 1 was modified by an application after they were scanned. They each therefore have two entries: B and B′. Segment D was modified after the scan began, but before it was reached. Segment D therefore only has one entry: D′.

Metadata journal entries 310 and data journal entries 312 may include all of the data necessary to synthesize a backup snapshot of the scanned storage system. Data journal entries 312 may contain the actual data from the storage system: A, B, B′ C, A′ and D′. Note that data D is not in the data journal 308 since it was modified on the storage system before its offset was scanned and transmitted. Metadata journal entries 310 may include metadata about the offsets. For example, metadata journal entries 310 may include an offset identifier, offset length, and write time, and volume/device ID. In the present example, metadata journal entries may include the entries shown in Table 2:

0. Vol A, offset = 0; size = 8 kb; time = t0 1. Vol A, offset = 8 kb; size = 8 kb; time = t0 2. Vol A, offset = 8 kb; size = 8 kb; time = t1 3. Vol A, offset = 16 kb; size = 8 kb; time = t0 4. Vol A, offset = 0; size = 8 kb; time = t3 5. Vol A, offset = 24 kb; size = 8 kb; time = t2

Table 2's metadata entries may correspond to the states shown in Table 1. The offset at location 0 may be offset 0, the offset at 8 kb may be offset 1, the offset at 16 kb may be offset 2, and the offset at 24 kb may be offset 3. The subscript of each journal entries 310 also identifies the offset associated with that metadata entry.

Deduplicated storage may use metadata journal 306 and data journal 308 to synthesize initial backup snapshot 314. First, metadata journal 306 may be queried to identify the most recent data associated with each offset. Next, the data may be retrieved from journal data file 308 and synthesized into backup snapshot 314. In some embodiments, synthesizing the backup snapshot may comprise creating and/or copying pointers rather than copying entire data blocks. This could be, for example, using a product such as EMC® DataDomain® Boost™

For example, once the initial scan is complete, data journal 308 includes data A, B, B′, C, A′, and D′. A′ and B′ are the result of application IO's occurring during the scan process, and therefore represent the present state of offsets 0 and 1. To create backup snapshot 314, deduplicated storage may therefore retrieve A′, B′, C, and D′ from the data journal 308 and synthesize them together.

Once initial backup snapshot 314 is synthesized, journal entries 310 and 312 may no longer be needed. In an embodiment, they may be removed from deduplicated storage 304 in order to conserve space. Alternatively, they may remain in the journals.

The systems and processes discussed in reference to FIG. 3 enable a system to create an initial backup snapshot. Once the initial snapshot is created, additional processes may enable continuous data protection and point-in-time recovery. These processes will now be discussed.

Maintaining Backup Snapshots with Continuous Data Replication

With reference now to FIG. 6, a system and process for maintaining backups using continuous data replication is discussed. As datasets increase in size, backing them up to remote or local backup devices becomes increasingly costly and complex. Additionally, traditional backup processes may not allow point-in-time recovery since the backups occur on a periodic, rather than continuous, basis. The methods and systems discussed herein provide continuous backup protection as writes are made to a source device, thereby reducing backup cost and complexity, and may allowing point-in-time recovery for backed up files.

The system of FIG. 6 includes data protection appliance 600, journal processor 602, and deduplicated storage 604. These elements may be substantially similar to those discussed in reference to FIG. 3. Deduplicated storage 604 may include backup snapshot 614, metadata journal file 606, and data journal file 608. In an embodiment, backup snapshot file 614 is synthesized in a manner substantially similar to backup snapshot 314, and may be created using metadata journal entries 610 and data journal entries 612.

As users, applications, and other processes access and use the source storage system, data on that system may change and/or new data may be created. As a result, initial backup snapshot 614 may become stale. If the source storage system should fail, there is a chance that any new or modified data may be lost. To address this concern, data protection appliance 600 may receive and stream application IO's to deduplicated storage system 604 on a continuous basis, even after initial backup snapshot 614 is synthesized. Streaming the application IO's allows the backups on deduplicated storage 604 to remain up-to-date, without needing to perform additional backups of large datasets. This may reduce network traffic, reduce workloads, and conserve space on deduplicated storage 604.

For example, new metadata entries 611 and new data journal entries 613 represent IO's made after initial backup snapshot 614 was synthesized. These entries may be written to metadata journal 606 and data journal 608, as shown in FIG. 6, or they may be written to separate journal files. In FIG. 6, data A′ and C were modified on the source storage device, and the journal entries therefore comprise A″ and C′.

Periodically, new backup snapshots may be synthesized from a previous backup snapshot and new journal entries. For example, second backup snapshot 616 may be synthesized from initial backup snapshot 614, new metadata journal entries 611, and new data journal entries 613. Second backup snapshot 616 may be used to restore source storage system up to the point-in-time the last journal entry was received. In other words, backup snapshot 616 represents a backup of the source storage system at a later timestamp than initial backup snapshot 614.

In an embodiment, synthesizing second backup journal entry 616 may be substantially similar to synthesizing the initial backup snapshot 614. Rather than synthesizing all of the data from data journal 608, however, unchanged data may be synthesized from initial backup snapshot 614. In an embodiment, this synthesis may comprise copying and/or creating a data pointer. For example, in FIG. 6 the solid arrows between initial backup snapshot 614 and second backup snapshot 616 represent unchanged data that is common between the two. In this case, only B′ and D′ remain unchanged. The dashed arrows represent new or changed data that needs to be synthesized into second backup snapshot 616. In FIG. 6, A′ is changed to A″, C is change to C′. Synthesizing the data into second backup snapshot 616 therefore results in A″, B′, C′, D′.

Additionally or alternatively, second backup snapshot 616 may be synthesized entirely from journal entries. Rather than synthesizing unchanged data from initial backup 614, deduplicated storage 604 may retrieve the unchanged data from data journal entries 612. For example, B′ and D′ may be synthesized from data journal entries 612 rather than from initial backup snapshot 614.

Additional backup snapshots, such as second backup snapshot 616, may be created periodically or on demand. For example, a user policy may specify that new snapshots should be created every week. Additionally or alternatively, a user may be preparing to perform some risky operations on the source storage system, and may demand that a snapshot be created in case something goes wrong. These policies may be maintained and applied using data protection appliance 600, deduplicated storage 604, and/or an external system.

Turning now to FIG. 7, a process for maintaining backup snapshots using continuous data replication is discussed. At block 700, an initial snapshot of a source storage system may be created. This initial snapshot may be substantially similar to initial backup snapshot 614, and may be created using the processes discussed in reference to FIG. 3, FIG. 4, and FIG. 5. Additionally or alternatively, the initial snapshot may be any previously created snapshot. For example, the initial snapshot may be similar to second backup snapshot 616, and may be used in conjunction with journal files to create a third backup snapshot.

At block 702, application IO's comprising writes to the source storage system may be received. These writes may update existing data or create new data. In an embodiment, the application IO's may be received by a data protection appliance, such as data protection appliance 600.

At 704, the application IO's may be written to a journal file. This journal file may be substantially similar to metadata journal file 606 and/or data journal file 608. In an embodiment, the application IO's may be written to one or more existing journals. Alternatively, application IO's arriving after a snapshot is synthesized may be written to their own unique journals. This may be beneficial, for example, when maintaining different levels of backup granularity, as discussed below.

In some embodiments, the application IO's are sequentially written to the journal as they are received. For example, if application IO's arrive in order B, C, A, their corresponding entries in the journal will also be B, C, A.

At block 706, a second snapshot may be synthesized from the initial backup snapshot and the journal. The second snapshot may be substantially similar to second backup snapshot 616, and the synthesis process may be similar to that depicted by the solid and dashed lines. In some embodiments, the second snapshot may be synthesized entirely from journal files rather than use the initial backup snapshot.

During and/or after the synthesis process, additional application IO's may be received at block 708. These application IO's could be used, for example, to create the third backup snapshot in the future, and may be processed in a manner similar to all the other application IO's discussed herein.

Finally, at block 710 the additional application IO's may be written to a journal file. They may be written to the same journal as the previous IO's, or they may be written to a new journal file.

FIG. 7A depicts a process for synthesizing snapshots used for continuous data replication. At block 712, a metadata journal may be read. This metadata journal could be, for example, metadata journal file 606. In an embodiment, the metadata journal may be read using a journal processor on a data protection appliance. Additionally or alternatively, the read operation may be local to the deduplicated storage device.

At block 714, the latest IO's for each offset may be identified. For example, metadata journal file 606 comprises journal entries 610 and 611. The latest entry for offset 0 is A″, 1 is B′, 2 is C′, and 3 is D′. In some embodiments, journal entries 610 and 611 may be written to different journals. In such an embodiment, the only IO's identified would be A″ and C′ since we are synthesizing a snapshot from initial backup snapshot 614.

At 716, a synthesis plan may be created. This plan may identify where each IO should be synthesized from. For example, the synthesis plan may only identify A″ and C′ for synthesis from data journal 608. The B′ and D′, in contrast, may be obtained from initial backup snapshot 614 since they have not changed.

Finally, at block 718, the backup snapshot may be synthesized. This backup snapshot could be, for example, substantially similar to backup snapshot 616.

The system and processes discussed herein may enable additional backup snapshots to be synthesized from journal entries and existing snapshots. In some embodiments, the journal entries may be application IO's which are continuously streamed to a data protection appliance. While these snapshots may provide additional data protection, they may only allow data that exists in the snapshots to be recovered. Combining snapshots and journal files may, however, allow any point-in-time recovery.

Virtual Disk Backup Using LUN Backups

The systems described herein may be used to create LUN backups on deduplicated storage. A user, administrator, or other entity may, however, only be interested in a subset of data residing in the LUN. For example, a user may be particularly interested in a VMDK file residing inside the LUN on a storage system. Backing up an entire LUN for the sake of a single VMDK may, however, be inefficient. The LUN may be significantly larger than the VMDK file, and may therefore consume an unnecessary amount of space. Additionally, multiple VMDKs may reside on a single LUN, but only a subset of them may need to be backed up. Similarly, multiple VMDKs may have different backup retention policies. The processes and systems discussed herein address these concerns.

As discussed above, LUN backups may be created for LUNs residing on a storage system. VMDK file or files may be extracted from these LUN backups after they are created. Once the VMDK is extracted, the LUN may be retained for future use or deleted to conserve space. In some embodiments, the VMDK may be extracted using a synthesis process and/or pointer manipulation. This allows the VMDK to be extracted from the LUN with little or no data movement.

FIG. 6 depicts a process for extracting VMDK files consistent with an embodiment of the present disclosure. At block 800, a LUN backup may be received at a data protection system. This LUN backup may be created using any of the methods discussed herein, or by using any other process. In an embodiment, the LUN backup may be received straight from a storage system. The data protection system may be similar to any data protection appliance discussed herein, or it may be a deduplicated storage.

At block 802, the LUN may be mounted inside a deduplicated storage system, such as deduplicated storage 304 and 504. In an embodiment, this is accomplished by mounting the LUN file system, which may be a Virtual Machine File System (“VMFS”), New Technology File System (“NTFS”), or any other file system.

At block 804, the mounted file system may be parsed to identify one or more VMDK files. This parsing may be performed internally on the deduplicated storage system. Additionally or alternatively, a data protection appliance may access the mounted LUN and parse the file system. Once the VMDK files are identified, they may be extracted from the LUN.

In an embodiment, parsing the file system involves identifying every VMDK on in the LUN. Alternatively, the parsing process may identify specific VMDKs that are of particular interest. For example, a user configuration may identify specific VMDK files that are of more interest than others. These specific VMDK files may be identified by file name, path, virtual machine name, owner, or any other identifier. Once identified, they may be extracted while other VMDKs are not.

At block 806, the identified VMDK(s) may be extracted from the LUN. In an embodiment, extracting the VMDK involves synthesizing a copy of it in the deduplicated storage. Synthesizing a copy of the VMDK may involve creating and/or updating a set of pointers to point to the VMDK data. This process may not involve any data movement since the data already exists inside the deduplicated storage.

Synthesizing a copy of the VMDK may involve creating a new file to contain the VMDK. Parsing the LUN file may identify where the VMDK blocks exist, and the new file may contain pointers to those blocks. This may result in a new file comprising the VMDK data.

At block 808, the LUN backup may optionally be deleted once the VMDK is extracted. This may involve deleting any data from the LUN that is not associated with the extracted VMDK. Deleting the LUN may conserve space on the deduplicated storage. If the primary purpose of the backup was to protect a VMDK, the other data from the LUN may not be needed.

In some embodiments, the LUN will only be deleted when a new copy of the LUN is created inside the deduplicated storage. For example, an initial backup of the LUN may be created and the VMDK file may be extracted. Over time, IOs may arrive and eventually a new LUN backup may be synthesized. At this time, the old LUN backup may be deleted to conserve space.

Finally, at 810 the virtual disk may be stored on the deduplicated storage system. Storing the virtual disk could be, for example, the result of the extraction process and may involve storing a file comprising new or updated pointer to the storage system.

In some embodiments, the VMDK extracted from the LUN may be formatted in a “thick” format. Thick VMDKs may be of a designated, unchangeable size. For example, a 5 GB thick VMDK require 5 GB for storage (ignoring deduplication, for the moment). The thick VMDK cannot store more than 5 GB, and if the VMDK stores less than 5 GB the difference will be made up of zeroes. Storing the VMDK in a thick format may therefore be inefficient because the backup may require more space than is necessary. If the storage is deduplicated, storing the VMDK may not take more space, but recovering the VMDK may excessive processing since all of the data may need to be copied back to the storage system, which may not be deduplicated.

VMDKs may also be formatted in a “thin” format. Thin VMDKs are as large as the data they actually use. For example, a VMDK comprising 2 GB of data will be 2 GB large. Thin VMDKs may grow or shrink as data is added or removed, and may therefore be more efficient for storing data. The process discussed in reference to FIG. 8 may therefore benefit if extracted thick VMDKs are converted to thin VMDKs for storage.

FIG. 9 depicts a flowchart for converting thick VMDKs to thin VMDKs. At block 900, a thick virtual machine disk may be received at a data protection system. In an embodiment, the thick VMDK may be inside a LUN backup, as discussed above. Additionally or alternatively, the thick VMDK backup may be received directly, without being included inside of a LUN. This may be beneficial on systems that backup virtual disks directly, rather than as part of a LUN.

At block 902, the thick virtual disk may be traversed. Thick virtual disks have a flat format. Data exists in the VMDK exactly as it does on disk or inside a LUN. Thick virtual disks may comprise sections of data intermingled with sections of no data or zeroes. For example, a 5 GB thick VMDK may include 1 GB of data, followed by 2 GB of zeroes, followed by another 1 GB of data, and ending with 1 GB of zeroes. Traversing the virtual disk may involve starting at either end of the virtual machine disk and moving towards the other. In some embodiments the backup storage may be deduplicated and zero areas may be identified by their signature rather than traversing the data.

At block 904, locations on the virtual disk comprising data are identified. These regions may be identified while the thick VMDK is being traversed. Alternatively, locations containing no data may be identified and the locations containing data may be inferred from the result. In an embodiment, identifying locations containing data is accomplished by identifying locations in the VMDK that do not contain zeroes.

At block 906, a thin virtual machine disk may be synthesized by creating or updating pointers to the locations containing data. Thin VMDKs may comprise a table of contents or other structure noting which chunks of the VMDK are mapped to which locations on disk. The synthesis process may update that table of contents to point to the proper locations, thereby conserving space that would otherwise be occupied by zeroes.

In some embodiments, conversion from a thick virtual disk to a thin virtual disk may occur every time a virtual disk is backed up to deduplicated storage. In an embodiment, a user configuration specifies whether to convert thick VMDKs to thin VMDKs. Additionally or alternatively, the conversion may occur when the data utilization on the thick virtual disk is less than a threshold. For example, a threshold of 50% utilization may be defined. If the data stored in the thick VMDK does not consume at least 50% of the total virtual disk volume, the VMDK may be converted to a thin VMDK. Any unit may define this threshold (e.g. percent, GB, MB, etc). A user, system administrator, policy, or any other entity may define the threshold.

General Purpose Computer System

FIG. 10 depicts a computer system which may be used to implement different embodiments discussed herein. General purpose computer 1000 may include processor 1002, memory 1004, and system IO controller 1006, all of which may be in communication over system bus 1008. In an embodiment, processor 1002 may be a central processing unit (“CPU”) or accelerated processing unit (“APU”). Some embodiments may comprise multiple processors, or a processor with multiple cores. Processor 1002 and memory 1004 may together execute a computer process, such as the processes described herein.

System IO controller 1006 may be in communication with display 1010, input device 1012, non-transitory computer readable storage medium 1014, and/or network 1016. Display 1010 may be any computer display, such as a monitor, a smart phone screen, or wearable electronics and/or it may be an input device such as a touch screen. Input device 1012 may be a keyboard, mouse, track-pad, camera, microphone, or the like, and storage medium 1014 may comprise a hard drive, flash drive, solid state drive, magnetic tape, magnetic disk, optical disk, or any other computer readable and/or writable medium. Storage device 1014 may also reside inside general purpose computer 1000, rather than outside as shown in FIG. 1.

Network 1016 may be any computer network, such as a local area network (“LAN”), wide area network (“WAN”) such as the internet, a corporate intranet, a metropolitan area network (“MAN”), a storage area network (“SAN”), a cellular network, a personal area network (PAN), or any combination thereof. Further, network 1016 may be either wired or wireless or any combination thereof, and may provide input to or receive output from IO controller 1006. In an embodiment, network 1016 may be in communication with one or more network connected devices 1018, such as another general purpose computer, smart phone, PDA, storage device, tablet computer, or any other device capable of connecting to a network.

Although the foregoing invention has been described in some detail for purposes of clarity of understanding, it will be apparent that certain changes and modifications may be practiced within the scope of the appended claims. Accordingly, the present implementations are to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive, and the invention is not to be limited to the details given herein, but may be modified within the scope and equivalents of the appended claims.

For the sake of clarity, the processes and methods herein have been illustrated with a specific flow, but it should be understood that other sequences may be possible and that some may be performed in parallel, without departing from the spirit of the invention. Additionally, steps may be subdivided or combined. As disclosed herein, software written in accordance with the present invention may be stored in some form of computer-readable medium, such as memory or CD-ROM, or transmitted over a network, and executed by a processor.

All references cited herein are intended to be incorporated by reference. Although the present invention has been described above in terms of specific embodiments, it is anticipated that alterations and modifications to this invention will no doubt become apparent to those skilled in the art and may be practiced within the scope and equivalents of the appended claims. More than one computer may be used, such as by using multiple computers in a parallel or load-sharing arrangement or distributing tasks across multiple computers such that, as a whole, they perform the functions of the components identified herein; i.e. they take the place of a single computer. Various functions described above may be performed by a single process or groups of processes, on a single computer or distributed over several computers. Processes may invoke other processes to handle certain tasks. A single storage device may be used, or several may be used to take the place of a single storage device. The disclosed embodiments are illustrative and not restrictive, and the invention is not to be limited to the details given herein. There are many alternative ways of implementing the invention. It is therefore intended that the disclosure and following claims be interpreted as covering all such alterations and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for backing up virtual disks to deduplicated storage, the method comprising: receiving a LUN backup from a source storage system at a deduplicated storage system, wherein the LUN backup comprises a LUN containing a virtual disk; identifying the virtual disk in the LUN backup at the deduplicated storage system; extracting the virtual disk from the LUN backup at the deduplicated storage system; converting the virtual disk at the deduplicated storage system from a thick virtual disk to a thin virtual disk having a variable size; and storing the thin virtual disk as a backup on the deduplicated storage system.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising mounting the LUN inside the deduplicated storage.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein identifying the virtual disk further comprises parsing a LUN file system inside the mounted LUN.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the LUN file system is parsed by the deduplicated storage.
 5. The method of claim 3, wherein the LUN file system is parsed by the data protection system.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein extracting the virtual disk comprises synthesizing a copy of the virtual disk on the deduplicated storage.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising deleting the LUN backup from the deduplicated storage after the virtual disk is extracted.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein converting the virtual disk further comprises: traversing the thick virtual disk; identifying locations in the thick virtual disk comprising data; and synthesizing the thin virtual disk by creating pointers to the locations.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual disk is converted only when data utilization on the thick virtual disk is less than a threshold.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein a user configuration specifies whether to convert the virtual disk.
 11. A system for backing up virtual disks to deduplicated storage, the system comprising a computer processor configured to execute instructions comprising: receiving a LUN backup from a source storage system at a deduplicated storage system, wherein the LUN backup comprises a LUN containing a virtual disk; identifying the virtual disk in the LUN backup at the deduplicated storage system; extracting the virtual disk from the LUN backup at the deduplicated storage system; converting the virtual disk at the deduplicated storage system from a thick virtual disk to a thin virtual disk having a variable size; and storing the thin virtual disk as a backup on the deduplicated storage system.
 12. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising mounting the LUN inside the deduplicated storage.
 13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein identifying the virtual disk further comprises parsing a LUN file system inside the mounted LUN.
 14. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein extracting the virtual disk comprises synthesizing a copy of the virtual disk on the deduplicated storage.
 15. A computer program product for backing up virtual disks to deduplicated storage, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with computer executable program, the code enabling: receiving a LUN backup from a source storage system at a deduplicated storage system, wherein the LUN backup comprises a LUN containing a virtual disk; identifying the virtual disk in the LUN backup at the deduplicated storage system; extracting the virtual disk from the LUN backup at the deduplicated storage system; converting the virtual disk at the deduplicated storage system from a thick virtual disk to a thin virtual disk having a variable size; and storing the thin virtual disk as a backup on the deduplicated storage system.
 16. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising mounting the LUN inside the deduplicated storage.
 17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein identifying the virtual disk further comprises parsing a LUN file system inside the mounted LUN.
 18. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein extracting the virtual disk comprises synthesizing a copy of the virtual disk on the deduplicated storage. 